Undercover
by JazzGirlsBenny-Elfy
Summary: When Sam Hanna is shot, Tony gets sent out the LA to help the team. But when Tony and G go undercover to infiltrate a drug cartel-one that they took down 17 years ago-they think it's just another op, but this one mission could threaten their lives and everything they've worked for.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Don't own NCIS

Chapter 1

"Come on McGeek. Gibbs totally has a thing for redheads. The new agent is a redhead, about the same age as his ex-wives. Ergo, new redhead agent will become Gibbs' next ex-wife," Tony tried to convince McGee.

"Ergo, Tony? Who even says that anymore?" McGee asked, exasperated. "And, if you don't mind, I'm trying to type my report before Gibbs gets here."

Smack! The double headslaps connected with Tony and McGee's heads. "McGee get typing! That report was due yesterday! Tony stop talking about my love life and get over here I have a job for you."

"Err yes boss? Almighty boss?"

"Shut up DiNozzo," Gibbs growled at his second in command.

"Shutting up boss. Anyway, what's this job you got for me?"

"Go to LA. Got it?"

"What? Why boss? Don't they already have NCIS there?" Tony questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"Agent Hanna is on mandatory med leave. Need someone to fill in. Leave in two hours."

"Yep boss. Getting stuff boss. " Tony grabbed his bag and jacket from his desk and headed for the elevator.

"DiNozzo!" Gibbs called after him.

"Yes boss?"

"Get back here ASAP. And watch your six."

"On it boss," Tony flashed a charming smile and stepped into the elevator just as Ellie Bishop walked out of the elevator.

"Tony?" Bishop asked. "Where are you going? Did we catch a case?"

"I'm off to LA, land of sun, shine, beaches, and hot girls in bikinis," Tony winked at Bishop.

"DiNozzo! You gone yet?" Gibbs yelled.

"Yes boss! Gone boss!" With a last wave at his team, he stepped into the elevator and pressed the button for Abby's lab.

"TONYTONYTONYTONYTONYTONY" Abby yelled the second Tony stepped into her lab. "Are you really going to LA?"

"Yes Abby. I am going to LA for a few weeks. How did you even hear about this already?" Tony responded, accepting Abby's bear hug and patting her on the back.

"Oh I check everything that goes through OPS in case G gets shot again. He does that wayyyyyy too much. Although this time Sam got shot not G. It wasn't that bad just a through-and-through to his leg but he'll be out for a few weeks. Which is where you come in! Will you bring me back a souvenir? Please Tony? Pleasie?" Abby released Tony from her hug, widening her green eyes to give him a pleading look.

"Course I will Abby. What do you want? A gunshot wound? Stab wound?" Tony flashed another giant smile.

Abby turned from her computer to stare at Tony in horror, like he had just declared that he had the plague again. "Nooooo Tony no you can't get hurt! That's not what I meant!"

Tony laughed. "I'm joking. I have no desire to get shot, stabbed, kidnapped, blown up, or injured again. Or get a concussion. I hate those."

Abby sighed in relief. "Good! I hate it when you do that Tony! But any who be safe, have fun, and don't annoy G too much."

"I got it Abby stop worrying," Tony chuckled. He managed to get out of the lab with one final hug from Abby. Walking quickly to the garage, he hopped in his car and headed towards his apartment. He grabbed out a few extra suits, two pairs of nice Italian leather shoes, his toiletries, and some more casual clothing. After all, it was LA, and considerably warmer there. He shoved his clothing in a suitcase, along with a few other necessities. As he packed, he wondered about the circumstances that had caused Sam to get shot. And if he knew G at all, the man would be pissed as hell that one of his people had been injured. It might have been seventeen years since he had last worked with the man, but he highly doubted the G could have changed that much. G was wary of everyone, but once he trusted someone enough to call them a friend, he was fiercely protective of them.

Tossing the last few things in his suitcase, he dragged it down the stairs (of course the elevator was broken again) and stuffed it in the back of his car. With a sigh, he settled back into the driver's seat and headed towards the airport.

He arrived at Dulles Airport a little less than an hour before his flight. He parked on the third level, and then dragged his suitcase to check-in.

"So what sends you to Los Angeles? Business or pleasure?" The attendant asked, weighing Tony's bag and placing it on the belt behind him.

"Work, unfortunately. Although I'll hopefully be able to get in a bit of fun before I have to head back," Tony grabbed the boarding pass from the machine and his ID from the attendant.

"Have a nice trip," The man said as Tony headed towards the security line. He managed to get through fine, until he placed his sidearm and backup gun in one of the bins. The TSA man standing nearest him started, then grabbed Tony's arm and gestured at another TSA agent to take Tony's bag.

"You'll have to come with me, sir," The man said, gripping Tony's bicep with bruising force.

"If you don't mind, I'd appreciate it if you would loosen your grip a bit. You wouldn't want to get in trouble with a federal agency because you injured one of their people," Tony said, smirking at the dumbfounded expression on the other man's face. "Yes, that's right, I'm a federal agent." He produced his badge and ID from the bin next to him and showed them to the TSA agents standing around. "I'm allowed to carry a gun with me."

The man gripping his arm mumbled something that might have been an apology and released his arm. Another TSA woman replaced his things on the conveyor belt, and he was allowed to pass. He made it onto the plane with no further incident, save being questioned at the gate about his gun. He simply showed his badge and ID again, and was ushered forwards. He settled into his seat-window, happily-and checked his phone one last time. There was only one message, from McGee.

G will meet u LAX. If u cant find him, txt him following #.

Tony entered the number into his phone as simply G, then texted a quick response to McGee.

Thnx McProbie

He powered down his phone and leaned back in his chair, popping a piece of gum in his mouth as he prepared for the long flight to LA.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Tony sighed and stretched as the plane rolled to a leisurely stop at Los Angeles International Airport. He turned his phone on as he grabbed his carry-on and jacket from the overhead bin. There was just one message on his phone, from Bishop.

How's LA? Hope u get back soon we got a case and gibbs is being crazy. Think he's missing headslapping u :) haha but hurry back!

Tony laughed and texted back

Well LA currently looks like the inside of a plane… Sorry bout the case but I'll probably be here for a while. Hopefully he'll go after mcgee with the headslaps instead of u good luck

Tony hit send, swung his bag over a shoulder, and exited the plane. He was annoyed that he had to wait a few minutes outside the plane for his planeside-checked bag, but at least it was faster than waiting by the baggage claim.

Once his bag came out, Tony quickly popped up the handle and dragged it behind him as he headed towards the exit of the airport. As he walked, he again got strange looks because of the weapon holstered on his hip. He shrugged them off easily enough, it wasn't often these days that people walked through airports carrying guns without also being handcuffed and dragged away soon after. Still, he liked it better when people looked at him with respect because he was an officer of the law, not a potential terrorist.

Looking out the glass doors of the airport, he saw that the sun was shining brightly- a major improvement over cold, snowy DC. Putting on his sunglasses and a bright smile, he headed outside.

G Callen was standing outside the doors, leaning seemingly casually against a wall, checking his phone. In reality, Tony knew he would be using his phone's camera to inconspicuously check out the surrounding area. As he approached, G put his phone in his pocket and stepped forwards to greet him.

"Hey, Tony. Good to see you again," Callen said, reaching out for a handshake.

"G! Nice to see you've managed to get through the past seventeen years alive and mostly well. I see you still have that facial problem though- you're just not as good looking as me," Tony replied as he warmly grasped G's hand and used it to pull him into a brief hug.

"In your dreams." G laughed as they walked to the car. "I'll always be better looking than you- and I can say it in more languages."

"Well, the languages part is certainly true, but it only means that you can lie about your appearance in more languages," Tony lightly teased as he slid into the passenger seat of the car.

"Yeah, I can lie about my appearance in more languages: by saying that you are better looking than me, I would be lying." G started the car and pulled out of the parking lot at Gibbs-level speeds.

"Okay, okay you win," The DC agent gave in. After a moment, he asked, "So why am I here?"

"Sam is out on medical leave; we are an agent down," G's hands tightened on the steering wheel as he replied.

"Yeah I know. Gibbs did inform me of that and Abby said he got shot but that it wasn't too bad. But that still doesn't explain why I'm here. I wasn't sent here to help out when you got shot a while ago. Why is it different now?"

G sighed. He looked much older than he had seventeen years ago; more so than just natural process of aging. Probably a part of this was due to the fact that his partner had been shot, but that was not all of it.

"Honestly, I have absolutely no idea. Director's orders, but that's all we were told. Well except for Hetty most likely, but she knows everything. If I had to guess, Vance is going to hit us with a major undercover op. You done much work undercover since we worked together?" G questioned.

Tony shoved back the memories of the former director and her undercover assignment for him.

"Eh. Sometimes, but not as much as I used to. I don't think Vance believes I actually can do undercover work. He doesn't have much faith in me at all; I think he would prefer it if I were dead or not working for NCIS anymore," Tony admitted.

G looked at him sharply. "You really think that?"

"Based off of everything he's said to or about me, yeah." Tony sighed.

"How stupid is he? You wouldn't have been on Gibbs' team in the first place, let alone lasted, what is it not, thirteen years?"

"Yeah. He thinks I'm just a spoiled rich brat."

"Has he never read your file? Seen everything from your cop days or the stuff about your dad disowning you? He knows that Gibbs doesn't stand for fools or anyone even slightly below his standards on his team. How does he think you got on his team and stayed there?" G was incredulous. "He's a damned idiot if he truly believes that about you."

"Thanks G. I highly doubt he read my file, or maybe he just read what he wanted to see. Wouldn't be the first time someone did that, someone who should have known better," Tony murmured, his thoughts drifting to Ziva doing just that. "Anyways, it's going to be weird talking to you in English instead of Spanish this time."

G chuckled, "And being in the US, not Columbia."

"And having backup inside the country that could actually get there in time if anything happened."

"Always nice," G agreed. "Although that op was surprisingly easy, compared to other things I have- and probably you have- done."

"Very true," Tony responded, and the pair slipped into an easy silence.

A bit later, after getting stuck in LA traffic for a while, they reached the OPS center. Henrietta Lange was waiting for them.

"Agent DiNozzo," she greeted, reaching out her hand for a handshake. "I've heard quite a bit about you."

Tony cracked a smile as he shook her hand, "All good things, I hope."

Hetty's expression darkened slightly. "That will remain to be seen."

Following Hetty, he and G walked inside the OPS center.

"Pretty nice place you've got here," Tony commented.

"Yes we do. Bit nicer than normal workspaces," A man with shaggy blond hair responded. "Marty Deeks, LAPD liaison. You must be Agent DiNozzo."

"Nice to meet you," Tony said as the two men shook hands. "And please, call me Tony."

"Okay then, Tony. I'll introduce you to the rest of the team. You already met G and Hetty-who, by the way, knows everything, so don't try to hide anything from her- and me, of course. Follow me, please," Deeks continued as he led the way up the stairs. "Sam, of course, is not here right now, but I'm assuming you guessed that already. My partner, Kensi, is also away for the moment."

Tony detected a bit of sadness and resentment in his voice as he said that, although the detective hid it well.

Deeks continued with his quick tour. "Down there's our desks and wardrobe stuff for undercover ops. Up here's the techie stuff that we're usually not allowed to touch. Do you do a lot of undercover work?" Not even pausing to allow Tony to answer, he carried on speaking. "Nell, Eric!" He called out as the reached the tech room. Gesturing to another guy, this one wearing beach shorts and a colorful Hawaiian shirt and a short young woman sitting at a bank of computers, he announced "Eric Beale and Nell Jones, this is Agent Tony DiNozzo from DC."

The woman-Nell-swiveled her chair around. "Hi, Tony. Nice to meet you. You're the guy that's filling in for Sam?"

"Yeah." Tony replied, feeling nervous. He wasn't so sure how the LA team would respond to having a random agent come in to take the place of one of their own, no matter how temporary the placement. He hoped they wouldn't be too hostile, as that would make it more difficult to do his job. So far, they'd seemed nice, but they had a lot of practice pulling off undercover work.

"Cool," Nell said, turning back to her work.

"Hi, Tony," Eric said, standing up and walking over to him for a handshake. "So you're from DC? Do you work with Abby Scuito?"

"Yes, I do. She works pretty closely with our team back home, actually. Why?"

"Oh, um, long story," Eric mumbled. "Do you, uh, think that you could pass along a message from me when you head back?"

"Sure," Tony said easily, raising a brow. "But couldn't you just send her a message on Facebook or something?"

"Well, yeah, I guess, but…." Eric scratched the back of his neck nervously. "It's kinda….I mean I wanted…."

"It's fine, I gotcha," the DC agent reassured him. "It's no problem."

"Thanks, man," Eric said, looking reassured.

Deeks tapped Tony's shoulder. "G looks like he wants to talk to you." He said, gesturing towards the office area downstairs.

"Right, thanks," Tony offered the detective a brief smile before heading down to talk to the lead agent.

"Hey, Tony. I wanted to talk to you about…." G trailed off as Eric let out a loud whistle. "Dammit," he muttered, starting to jog up the steps. "The whistle means we caught a case, by the way."

Tony followed him up the stairs to where the rest of the team had already assembled in front of the big screen.

"Okay, people," Eric said. "LAPD found a group of murdered sailors, Vance wants us to check it out."

"Okay," G said. "Tony, Deeks, let's go see what we've got."


	3. Chapter 3

**Thanks to all who read and reviewed! **

**By the way, we're coming up on concert/audition season. Yay for concerts, opposite of yay for auditions. But anyways, that means we're going to be even more busy! Yay! Not. And I meant to have this out yesterday, but didn't have wifi sorry.**

Chapter 3

It could really get hot in LA, Tony thought as he stepped out of the car with G and Deeks. It was about 95 degrees there, as opposed to the 12 degrees it had been back in DC. He was glad that it generally stayed cooler, as chasing down suspects in extremely hot weather would get annoying quickly. Although Columbia did get hotter as times, at least he and G hadn't been expected to wear anything seeming even semi-professional, and they definitely hadn't had to chase down suspects or run from flying bullets. Well, at least until the CIA had been sent in at the end.

Shaking himself out of his memories, he hurried to catch up with G, who had gone ahead while Deeks grabbed some things out of the car.

"So what was it you wanted to talk to me about?" Tony asked G as they walked towards the LAPD officers who stood in the alley.

"Not now. Somewhere more private," G said, glancing around. "Hey, do you have a place to stay while you're here?"

Tony blinked at the not-so-subtle change in topic, but shrugged it off easily. "I was just going to rent a hotel room nearby."

"You can stay at my place," G offered. "It's a house, lot larger than the one in Columbia. Although I can't guarantee that people won't come in the middle of the night looking to kill me."

"Meh, that's nothing new. Thanks, man, I really appreciate it."

Reaching the alleyway where the bodies had been found, G and Tony headed over to the women standing at the entrance.

"NCIS," Tony greeted. "Agent DiNozzo. You two are….?"

"Detective Reynolds, and my partner, Officer Ryan. You'll be taking over the scene, I presume?" At the agents' nod, she continued speaking. "Do you need us to stick around, or can we go?"

"Think we're good, thanks," G flashed a quick smile and ducked under the police tape into the alley. Deeks ran up a minute later, holding a camera and the other things necessary for crime scenes.

"Meghan! Hi," he greeted Detective Reynolds, awkwardly trying to shift the stuff he was carrying so he could shake her hand. Tony grabbed the stuff before he could drop anything, and headed into the alley after the other agent, leaving Deeks to his conversation.

"So what's up with this case, anyways? I didn't think you guys dealt with normal, run of the mill dead sailors." Tony questioned, slipping the camera strap around his neck as he knelt next to G, who was examining the bodies.

"We sometimes do. Well, actually, we do whatever Vance tells us to do. Don't know why he wants us on this one, though. Looks simple execution style," he said, gesturing at the neat bullet holes in the center of each Marines' forehead. He pulled out his phone, snapping quick pictures of each man's face. "I'm going to send these to Eric and Nell, see what they can find. Can you do pictures, and we'll have Deeks bag and tag when he's done talking to that detective?"

Tony nodded, stepping around the narrow alley to get shots of the bodies from all angles. "Why'd you send the cops off? Might've been helpful to have them keeping interested passerby away."

G turned to him, eyes suddenly dark and haunted. "Because it was a cop that shot Sam."

"Oh." That was not what Tony had expected. "Well, friendly fire is never fun to deal with, but-"

"It was not friendly fire." G almost growled. "Dirty cop. Almost killed him. Would've, if he'd aimed a centimeter higher. Would've hit the femoral artery."

"Oh. Right. Well, not all cops are dirty. Anything on who these guys are yet?"

G sighed, looking tired. "Yeah, I know. Some cops- or former cops- are the people I trust the most. But it's hard to really know someone. Anyways, Eric just got back to me. These guys were all petty officers. Alex Stephens, Jim Scotty, and Tiberius Pine. Nell and Eric'll have their records up when we get back."

"Hey," Deeks said, ducking into the alley with a sheepish smile. "Sorry, guys. Old friend of mine that I hadn't seen in a while. What needs doing around here?"

"It's fine," G replied, heading to the mouth of the alley. "You two finish up here. I'll keep any interested civilians away."

"Um, okay." Deeks muttered. He turned to Tony. "How well do you know him?" he questioned.

"Well, I got to know him pretty well, but that was seventeen years ago, so I don't really know, anymore. I trust him with my life, and he seems to still trust me, but the only things I've heard in recent years is NCIS scuttlebutt. Why?"

"Seventeen years ago? So G was what, CIA? Were you an NCIS agent back then?"

"Nah, I was Philly PD. G was CIA. We worked a joint undercover op for a while."

"You were a cop?" Deeks turned from where he was bagging evidence to look at Tony. "Huh. Didn't think there were many cops-turned-NCIS out there, the way people talk."

"What do you mean, 'the way people talk'? NCIS agents or other people?" Tony raised an eyebrow at the other man, hoping he wasn't talking about what he thought he was talking about.

"Other NCIS agents. Not my team, just… people. They act like, superior, like the work they do is much harder and more important that what the local LEOs do. It's nothing, really." The detective trailed off, embarrassed.

"You mean they tend to treat you like the mud on the bottom of their shoe. Yeah, I know what you mean." Tony responded.

"You do? Well, you probably don't anymore, since you've been an agent for a while. What- actually, never mind, you probably don't want to tell me. Just forget I said anything. So, um, are you dating anyone?" Deeks unsubtly tried to change the topic.

"Actually, I still do sometimes. One member of my team is really smart. Went to MIT, tech genius, all that stuff. He tends to call me out about not having as good an education as he did, not being as good with the technology, annoying things like that. He never does it in front of Gibbs, of course, but still does it, even after I've worked for NCIS for thirteen years, which is longer than he has." Tony wasn't quite sure why he was telling all this to a man he barely knew, but oh well. He wanted to be accepted by the team, so he might just go for broke on this one. "My former partner did the same thing. She was a Mossad-trained assassin, so not exactly well versed in the things we do at NCIS, like investigating and not shooting people unless absolutely necessary. Despite that, she always acted smugly superior, even though she took credit for other people's work and didn't get much done herself. She thought herself better than me just because I had been a cop, even though my work had actually taught me valuable things for working at NCIS. I'm assuming you get similar treatment from some agents?"

Deeks glanced at Tony and looked away quickly, almost nervously. "Well it's nothing from my team, so it's not so bad, but yeah. Casual, almost cheerful digs about not being as good as them. Not that often, cause I think they're scared of G and Sam, but it just wears you down after a while, you know?"

"I know. And if you want to point any of these assholes out to me, I'd happily rearrange their faces for you," Tony offered with a quick half smile.

"Thanks, but I think I'm good. You know, I'm not glad that Sam got hurt of course, but it's nice to get a chance to work with you."

Gathering up the evidence bags and heading over to where G waited, Tony allowed himself a small smile. 2 agents down, 4 to go. But he was off to a good start with this team.


	4. Chapter 4

**Thank you to all who read and reviewed!**

Chapter 4

"Okay," Eric said. "So we have Petty Officers Alex Stephens, Jim Scotty, and Tiberius Pine. All grew up in the same neighborhood, went to the same school, enlisted together, right out of high school. Served one tour in Afghanistan. Overall, nothing remarkable about them, except for the fact that they're dead." As he spoke, Eric pulled up pictures and pertinent documents about the three murdered Marines.

Nell took over. "We looked through their bank records. There's quite a bit more money in there than petty officers generally make. Also, $150,000 dollars was transferred to another account- $50,000 from each man. We haven't gotten around to tracking the other account yet, but we will do that next."

Tony pursed his lips. "Pine looks familiar."

Eric shook his head. "He's never had a run in with NCIS, or any police departments, as far as his record shows. Must've been someone else."

"No… not him exactly…" Tony mused. "Maybe like a brother, or a cousin… No… A parent!" He turned to the lead agent.

"Columbia," the two men spoke in unison.

"Pine… Wasn't he one of the ones that did border crossings?" G asked.

"Yeah we supplied to him sometimes, remember? But I thought he got caught with the rest?" Tony recalled. There was a nagging feeling in his gut that something wasn't right with this.

"Yeah he did, and I'm pretty sure he didn't have a son then." G replied. His body language didn't change, but a hint of unease appeared in his blue eyes. "Eric, look up his father. Tomás Pine, if memory serves me correctly."

"Tomás… sounds right," Tony said.

"Right," Eric pulled up an ID of Tomás Pine, reading from his tablet. "Born in Columbia. His parents moved to the US when he was 15, but he didn't really work out here. Minor charges, but when he was 20, his parents died. A few months later, he moved back to Columbia, and was suspected to be a member of the Lopez drug cartel there. The cartel was taken down 17 years ago by an unnamed Philly PD detective and a CIA agent who went undercover, and he was taken into custody for ferrying drugs across the border. I don't think we'll be able to get anything else on the undercover op; it's pretty heavily redacted. I'll keep working on it, though," the tech said apologetically.

"No need," Tony replied.

"What do you mean?" Nell piped up. "That might have something to do with the murders."

"We already have the intel from that op," G put in.

"What? How?" Deeks asked. Then his eyes widened in realization. "Wait- you don't mean… That was you two?"

"Guilty as charged," Tony smiled easily as he hopped up on the edge of the table.

"Huh?" Eric asked articulately.

"I was the CIA agent, Tony was the Philly detective," G explained to his stunned team.

"You guys took down an entire drug cartel by yourselves in the space of just six months, in a foreign country, with no backup?" Nell gaped at the two men.

"Well, I wouldn't say there was no backup…. The backup just wouldn't have been able to get there in any reasonable amount of time," Tony said casually, as if he were speaking about the weather instead of a highly dangerous undercover mission.

"You are insane," Deeks muttered. "Anyways, can we get back to the case? When did Tomás have a son and who was his wife?"

"He had the son 7 years before the op, but the kid and the wife stayed in the US. They were divorced when he was 3, and Tomás only got to see him a few times a year. When he was 10, Tomás got out of prison, and a few months later, the ex-wife was killed in a suspected drug hit. Custody was transferred over to Tomás until he was 18," Nell reported, reading from Eric's tablet.

"We need to find Tomás. These deaths could have been cartel-related. After all, they were killed standard execution style," Deeks suggested.

"Damn," Tony swore under his breath. He'd never wanted to hear of the cartel ever again, and now everything was coming back. Almost everyone from the cartel had been taken down, including Lopez. So who was starting it up again? Or had they ever really gotten rid of it in the first place? Lopez had been killed in the shootout, Tony had seen his body.

G's phone went off, startling him out of his thoughts. "It's Sam," he said, stepping slightly away from the group. "What's up?" he asked quietly, then listened for a moment. "Really? Yeah, I'll be there." He ended the call and stuck his phone back in his pocket.

"How's Sam?" Deeks asked.

"Bored as hell, but okay. He wants to talk to me about something. While I'm gone, keep looking into the cartel. Find out everything about their recent activities, and how and when they started up again. Look into Lopez's family, and if you need anything unredacted, just wait and I'll work on it when I get back. Tony, come with me."

Tony slid off the table and walked after the lead agent. "What's up, G?" he asked under his breath.

G shook his head, walking quickly to his car. The two agents slid into the car, and G accelerated quickly, speeding out of the area.

"So why am I here?" Tony questioned again.

"I want you to meet Sam. Also, I thought it would be a good idea to… refresh our memories on Columbia and maybe bounce ideas about what the _hell _is going on here," G said, sighing. "It's been seventeen years. I thought this was over then, so why the hell is everything coming back now? Lopez died. We both saw his corpse, so who is running the cartel now? And since when?"

"Family member?" Tony suggested. "Waited until the cartel was off of everyone's radar and then crawled out of the woodwork? And are we sure everyone got captured in the raid? We were a bit busy trying not to get shot or blow our covers to really check."

"Maybe family," G said slowly, pondering. "We'll have to wait for Eric to look into that. But… now that I think about it…. I don't remember Hernandez being found."

"The last time I saw him was when he put a bullet in my gut," Tony agreed. G flinched slightly. "Then he shot you and I don't really remember anything after that until I woke up in the US again."

"Nah… Figures that you wouldn't," the agent said tiredly. "I think I saw him run, but I had a bullet in my leg so I can't really say who it was for sure."

"We mentioned him to the CIA," Tony recalled. "But we did kinda wake up after it was a bit too late to do much. Did they ever say anything about it to you?"

"No. I'll contact some people, see if they know what happened to him," G replied as he parked. "We're here, by the way," he added unnecessarily.

"Got that, thanks," Tony muttered. A little louder, he asked "Are you sure he's not going to shoot me on sight?"

"Probably not, but you'd best let me go first, just to be sure," G said, chuckling as he knocked and then pulled out a key to unlock the door.


	5. Chapter 5

**Thank you to all who read and reviewed!**

Chapter 5

"Hey, Sam," G called out as he entered. "Someone I want you to meet."

Tony trailed behind the other agent, feeling awkward and out of place.

"I don't want to G," Sam responded shortly as his partner walked into the room.

"Sorry, you're kinda got no choice. He's already here," G said lightly.

Sam, sitting on the couch with one leg bandaged and propped up, shifted to glare at the men walking in.

"Sam, this is Agent Tony DiNozzo, from DC. He's helping out here for a little while. Tony, this is Sam Hanna, my partner," G introduced.

"Hi, Sam. Nice to meet you," Tony held out a hand for the other man to shake, hoping he wouldn't break it. The SEAL grudgingly grasped it for a second, his glare never lessening.

"Sure," he grunted, and Tony felt his hopes plummet. Clearly Sam didn't like him at all, despite the fact that they had only met a minute before.

"Be nice, Sam," G lightly chided. "He's not going to be so easy to scare off. He works with Gibbs, and, unless I'm mistaken, worked with him as a two man team for a while. And managed to survive and continue working with him."

Apparently Sam wasn't so dead set against Tony as it had first seemed, as he cracked a slight smile at the uncomfortable agent.

"Well I suppose that's one redeeming quality, although the real test will be whether or not you can survive working with G. Without killing him, I mean," Sam said, completely deadpan.

"Meh, I've already done that. He doesn't seem all that bad, but maybe he's gotten worse over time," Tony smiled."

"Hey!" G protested. "No ganging up on me!"

"Bit late for that now," Tony returned, sharing a quick grin with Sam.

"All right, all right, I give up," G threw his hands in the air. "I'm going to get your pain meds. Play nice, boys."

The second G was out of earshot, Sam's smile dropped.

"When did you two work together and why does he trust you so much?"

"Uh…" Tony mumbled, a bit surprised by the sudden change of attitude. "We worked an op together seventeen years ago, before we were NCIS. And he probably trusts me because we were stuck undercover together in Columbia for six months."

"Can he still trust you? People change a lot in seventeen years, and I'm not having my partner getting injured or killed because you're dirty or an assassin," the other agent said, glaring harshly.

"I'm not either of those things, and I have no hidden agendas whatsoever," Tony muttered, trying not to let his disappointment show through.

"Prove it."

"How the hell am I supposed to do that?" Tony asked angrily, glaring back.

"He took a bullet in the gut for me once," G said, reentering the room and handing Sam some pills and a glass of water. "And I trust him, Sam. That should be good enough for you."

"Fine," Sam grumbled, but his glare did somewhat soften.

"You said that you wanted to talk to me. What's up?"

"What's your current case about?" Sam asked. Tony inwardly smirked at the not so subtle deflection, but G didn't seem to agree with his internal assessment of the comment.

"No, Sam. You are not helping with the case. You probably shouldn't even be out of the hospital. And if that's all you wanted to talk about, we have to get going," G said sternly, turning to leave.

"But-" Sam started.

"Bye Sam. Deeks will be over later."

"Fine. Take care of yourself."

"Will do," G smiled back at his grumpy partner as he and Tony left the building.

* * *

Back in the car, Tony breathed a sigh of relief. "Well, that went better than I expected."

"In other words, he didn't kill you?" G asked, glancing over at him.

"Yeah basically," Tony replied, jumping slightly when his phone rang. He cursed under his breath when he saw the caller ID. "It's Gibbs, sorry."

"Yeah, Boss?" he asked, hoping that he was in a better mood than earlier.

"When is your flight back?" Gibbs demanded angrily. No suck luck then.

"Eh- it's not?" Tony said hesitantly.

"Why the hell not!"

"I'm supposed to be out here. Director's orders," Tony reminded.

"To hell with the director's orders! Get your ass back here ASAP or don't bother coming back!"

"Gee, are you sure you want to say that, Boss? Cause the last time you said that I ended up getting drugged, kidnapped, and locked in a sewer system," Tony said flippantly. G glanced sharply at him, but Tony flicked a hand at him to mean 'later'.

"Does it sound like I give a damn, DiNozzo? Get. Your. Ass. Back. Here," Gibbs growled.

"No can do, Boss. I suggest you talk to Vance," Tony snapped, losing his patience and hanging up.

G looked over at him again, this time with concern evident in his blue eyes.

"What was that about?" he asked.

"Gibbs isn't very happy that I'm still out here. He wants me back in DC right away, and apparently I'll be fired if I don't. But since I'm out here on director's orders, I'll also be fired if I leave," Tony sighed.

"I can talk to the director if you want," G offered. "Tell him that we'll be able to function a man down."

"Thanks, but no thanks. Now that there's a possible cartel tie-in, I should probably stay here in case we need to go under."

"True, and I can't say I would like it if you headed back so soon," G said, turning his attention back to the road. They drove in silence for a minute, both men lost in their thoughts.

"Hey," G said quietly, almost hesitantly. "If Gibbs does fire you, I'm pretty sure we could convince Vance and Hetty to let you transfer here, if you want."

Tony blinked, shocked by the sudden sentiment. "I-" he cleared his throat. "That'd be great. Thank you G," he said earnestly.


	6. Chapter 6

**Thank you to all who read and reviewed!**

Chapter 6

"Hey, what did you mean by that other comment?" G asked Tony a few minutes later.

"Huh? What other comment?" Tony muttered, shaking his head to get himself out of his thoughts.

"About getting drugged, kidnapped, and stuck in a sewer system the last time Gibbs said something like that."

"Oh. That," Tony said, but did not seem inclined to continue.

"Care to elaborate further?" G pressed.

"We were investigating the disappearance of a Marine. A few of his former teammates had been kidnapped, starved, and stung by bees, and then found dead in sewers a while later. Course, we didn't find out about that until later… But I was leaving to trail our main suspect and Gibbs told me to call in every hour, then said to me 'Call in late, just once, and don't bother coming back.' Long story short, a waitress at a bar had kidnapped the Marines, by drugging their drinks and dragging them to the sewers. She did the same to me, left me locked up with the current Marine she'd kidnapped. I managed to get us out of there, but we got kinda lost in the sewers. Eventually the waitress and Gibbs and Kate, my partner back then, found us and we got out. The end." Tony recited in a bored monotone.

G pulled the car over to the side of the road, then turned to stare at Tony for a long moment.

"You're serious," he finally said. "And Gibbs didn't- of course he didn't apologize. His stupid rule six."

"Well, he did tell me I was irreplaceable," Tony offered.

G's eyes narrowed. "Why do I get the feeling that there's more to that than you're letting on?"

"Probably because there is," Tony sighed. "He then told McGee- who wasn't on the team then, but was helping out and sitting at my desk- to forget about taking my spot, cause I was still alive."

G winced in sympathy. "Gibbs might not say sorry, but I'm sorry that he was being a bastard. You don't deserve any of his shit."

"Thanks, but that was years ago. I got over it."

"You're telling me that's the only time he's ever been like that?" G asked, arching an eyebrow.

"No," Tony scrubbed a hand over his face. "But it doesn't matter right now. Can we just head back? Or did you still have that thing that you wanted to talk to me about?"

"It matters, Tony. I'll leave it for now, but if he shows up here or fires you…" G trailed off, scowling. "As for the things I need to talk to you about, I'd rather wait until we're at my place after work. It'll take a while, most likely."

"Okay," Tony waited a beat, but G still didn't move. "So… are we heading back?"

"Yeah," G gave him one last long, searching look, then pulled the car back onto the road.

The car ride was as awkward as imagined. Tony for once was at a loss for words, and G didn't know how to get a conversation started after the previous one. So they stuck to silence.

They arrived back at the OPS center. The team there was like a family, Tony had noticed. He'd never liked the idea of family. Family almost always ends up leaving or breaking apart, or just being generally shitty. Prime example: his ass of a father, who liked beating up his son in a drunken rage, or leaving him in a hotel for three days, completely alone.

No. He shook his head to get rid of the thoughts. He didn't want to dwell on miserable things right now, not when he was with people who seemed to actually like and appreciate him. So far, at least.

"Tony! Yoo-Hoo! Tony!" G called as he waved his hand in front on Tony's face.

"Err, yeah, sorry just dozing off."

"Okay… if you say so. We're here, and I think Nell has some info on the case," G said, eyeing Tony with concern.

Tony reluctantly trudged upstairs. Damn Gibbs, before his call he'd actually been having a pretty good day. The LA team was nice, and he enjoyed working with G again, something he'd never thought he'd have a chance to do. But no, of course Gibbs couldn't even give him one day of peace. Even though there was a major chance that he and G would need to resume their old aliases for this case.

They reached the upstairs section of the OPS center, where Nell, Deeks, and Eric were waiting.

"What do you have? Anything good?" G questioned.

"Well, I think I found Tomás," Nell said, tapping at the screen of a tablet.

"Hit us," Tony said as his phone interrupted the conversation. "On second thought hit G. I've got to take this. G, you can fill me in." Tony said and backed out of the room.

"Yeah boss?"

"I've talked to Vance and he said that you can choose to stay wherever, but I'm saying that if you don't come back to DC by tomorrow that you're off my team. So choose wisely," Gibbs snapped before hanging up.

Tony had rarely felt so conflicted. If that was the way he was going to be treated, did he really want to go back to DC? He'd miss Abby, Ellie, and Jimmy, but he couldn't go back now. He had made a commitment to this case. He had promised G he'd have his back while Sam was out. He also didn't want to upset Sam cause he actually did like living. And he was not a quitter. He was staying at LA for the case… and maybe a little longer.

He sighed, then tapped at his phone again, this time dialing Director Vance.

"Vance," the man snapped. Geez, why were all the DC people in bad moods today?

"Hi Director," Tony said, waiting nervously.

"Agent DiNozzo. Aren't you supposed to be working out in LA?" Vance asked pointedly.

"Um, yeah, I am. I was just…. uh…. Well Agent Gibbs told me that you said I could go back to DC now if I wanted…" Tony trailed off awkwardly.

"I suppose so, but I would _prefer_ that you stayed out there. This case is most likely connected to one that you apparently worked on before. Therefore, I am led to believe that you would be an asset to that team for this," the director said, his meaning very clear.

"Yes sir. I'll stay out here for as long as you want me to be."

"Good," Vance said, hanging up just as Gibbs had done minutes before.

Tony rubbed his eyes, trying to repress the wave of exhaustion that suddenly flooded over him. Letting out another sigh, he stepped back to rejoin the team.

"You ok Tony?" G asked quietly as he stood next to him.

"Yeah I'm fine. I might have to take you up on that job offer though… Anyways, what did Nell find?"

G looked as him askance, clearly wondering what he was hiding. Much to Tony's relief, the other agent didn't call him on it.

"Dead body that seems to be Tomás Pine. Burned nearly beyond recognition, but dental records are a pretty good match, and height and weight are about right."

"How long ago was he killed?" Tony asked.

"About a month ago. So the cartel probably only became active again recently, or at least powerful enough to start arranging murders in the US."

"Wonderful," Tony said sarcastically. "Well, what do you think, José? Time to dust off out aliases?"

"I believe so, Miguel." G replied. "It's time."

* * *

**(A/N: (Elfy) Sorry I haven't been writing a lot! Thank god the wonderful Benny is awesome and had written most of this! She wrote the beginning of this chapter I wrote the end! But in my defense I have more rehearsals then her ;P. Any who update on audition season! We both got into Wind Ensemble, which is like honors band so auditions are over yay! The musical is ending soon so update will probably happen more frequently! Sorry I keep blabbing! BYE)**

**(A/N 2: (Benny) Don't listen to Elfy, she has legitimate reason to not be working on this for now. She has musical rehearsals are from right after school to 6:30 every night, and on the weekends as well. Plus there's the normal jazz and band rehearsals, and select chorus for her, and homework, and we can't miss watching NCIS every week! So that's the reason for the late update, sorry about that. Musical ends this week, so everything should be normal again for the updates! Thanks for reading!)**


	7. Chapter 7

**Thank you to all who read and reviewed!**

Chapter 7

"Wait, what?" Eric asked, frowning in confusion. "José and Miguel? Who are they?"

Deeks rolled his eyes. "Their aliases from the undercover assignment in the cartel. Duh."

Eric blushed slightly. "Oh. Right. I knew that."

Normally, Tony would have tried to make some funny comment, but he couldn't muster up the energy. He knew that he had made the right decision in staying to see out the case, especially since he and G would have to go in undercover again. Nevertheless, he still felt conflicted and guilty, even though there was no logical reason for that. If anyone should feel guilty, it should be Gibbs, but the man never seemed to feel guilty or regretful. At least not when it came to Tony.

With a small sigh, Tony brought himself out of his thoughts again. G was speaking to Eric

"-to find us some mid level cartel people in the area. And I'll speak to some people to update our cover to say that we got out of prison. If it's all right with Tony, we'll go in tomorrow afternoon and hopefully put this case behind us soon. Sound good, Tony?"

"Uh, yeah great," Tony muttered, trying to ignore the sudden apprehension building. Something felt off, like something bad was about to happen and he needed to stop it.

G closed his eyes briefly, seeming to consider something. "Okay. Eric, find us some guys to meet with, and then head home for tonight, everyone. Deeks, you still planning to stop in with Sam?"

Deeks nodded, heading downstairs to grab his things. The rest of the team muttered farewells and left as well. G, however, made no move to leave.

"Are we going, or do you usually just sleep here?" Tony gently prodded.

"Right, yeah," G said softly. "Just have a bad feeling about this for some reason."

"Feels like something bad is going to happen?"

"Yeah. You feel it too?" G asked, heading for the stairs.

"Yep. Hopefully nothing, though."

"Doubt it. If it's affecting both of us, then it's probably something. Maybe we're just getting paranoid."

"_Getting _paranoid?" Tony joked. "G, you were paranoid before I even knew you."

"And you weren't?"

"I never denied it. I would maintain that I had legitimate reason, growing up with my father," Tony said, relishing in the fact that he could be open with G, instead of hiding behind his 'joker frat boy' persona.

"Well, by that reasoning, so do I," G pointed out, grabbing his bag and tossing Tony's to him.

"True," Tony admitted. "Let's call a truce and say we're both somewhat paranoid, but both have good reason for it."

"Okay, that works for me. Although I would prefer to call it 'staying alive'."

Tony laughed, some of the tension and guilt disappearing with the lighthearted- for once- banter.

The car ride to G's place was spent in comfortable silence, with Tony managing to fend off his dark thoughts for once. When they reached the house, G headed up to unlock the door while Tony grabbed his bag.

"Nice place," Tony commented as he stepped inside.

G shrugged. "It's got a roof and walls. It works."

Leading Tony down a hallway, G opened a door, gesturing to the bedroom inside. "You'll be staying in here. Bathroom's right down the hall, second door on the left."

"Thanks," Tony said, dropping his bag on the bed.

"I was going to order dinner while you get settled. Chinese okay?" G asked, standing in the doorway.

"Yeah, sounds great."

"Anything in particular that you want?"

Tony shook his head, pulling off his jacket and tie and draping them over a nearby chair.

"Okay. See you in a bit then." G retreated out of the room, leaving Tony alone with his thoughts again.

Letting out a bone-weary sigh, Tony changed into an old t-shirt and sweatpants. He pulled out his cell phone as he left the room, tapping into a text conversation with Ellie.

How pissed off is gibbs?

Sticking the phone back into his pocket, he wandered into the kitchen, where G had just hung up the phone, presumably having called the takeout place.

"You look comfortable, and that seems like a great idea. I'm going to go change too. Beer's in the fridge if you want one," G said as he headed out of the room.

Tony grabbed two beers out of the fridge, placing them on coasters on the coffee table and relaxing into the couch. It was nice to have a chance to relax, sit down, and enjoy a beer with an old friend, especially after the events of the day.

Tony jumped when his phone went off twice in succession a minute later, making G, who was just walking into the room, laugh.

"Bit jumpy there, huh?" the other agent asked, lifting an eyebrow in amusement. "Food should be here in about half an hour," he added, taking a sip of his beer.

Tony nodded again, pulling out his phone to check the messages. Sure enough, it was Ellie.

Somewhat. Not as bad as weve seem before though. Y?

*seen

Resisting the urge to sigh again, Tony responded.

Jw. Hows the case going so far?

Not so bad. Might actually b able to figure this one out without u! ;)

Haha thx but im sure you guys would b fine without me

Maybe. Good thing this assignment is only temporary. Teams weird and off with u gone

:)

Tony ended the conversation with a simple smiley face, not having the heart to tell Ellie that it most likely wasn't temporary.

"Tony," G broke the silence.

"Yeah?" Tony asked, still looking at his darkened phone screen.

"Gibbs called me while you were on your way here."

Tony closed his eyes for a second. "Let me guess- he wanted to tell you that I should turn around and head back to DC immediately."

"No. Well, he did mention sending you back ASAP, but that wasn't the main thing," the lead agent paused, seeming to consider his next words carefully. "He told me to be careful, and to keep you safe, and that he expected you back in DC in the same shape you'd left in. He seemed pretty concerned about you, Tony."

"Really," Tony muttered bitterly. "Never seems that way when I'm actually with him."

G placed a gentle hand on the other agent's shoulder. "I know. And I'm not saying this is any excuse, but Gibbs has always had a difficult time expressing his emotions as words. He most likely just doesn't know how to tell you what you mean to him. But aside from that, he told me to watch carefully for any signs that you were getting sick. Because you'd had the plague."

"Yeah, yeah. I know. I'm always careful with my health, I'll seek medical attention if I feel sick, blah blah blah," Tony said, rolling his eyes.

"Not what I meant, Tony," G said gently. "And, for the record, I'm pretty sure you wouldn't seek medical attention on your own. I was more wondering how you got- and survived- the plague in the first place."

"There was a woman- Lowell, I think. I don't really remember much of the actual case, as I was a bit busy trying not to drown in my own lungs at the time. But she'd had a daughter that was raped, with a lot of Navy suspects. NCIS never solved the case, and she wanted us to reopen it and find out who it was. The way that she decided to do that was to send a letter filled with genetically altered pneumonic plague. I had the misfortune of opening that letter and inhaling some of it. The whole place went on lockdown, and Kate and I went to the hospital. She had a cold, so it was just precautionary in her case. She didn't actually have the plague, thankfully. Anyways, while we were having tons of fun sitting around the hospital, Gibbs, Abby, McGee, and one other agent tracked the letter to Lowell. She said she had a cure that she would give them if they reopened the case." Tony paused, taking a gulp of his beer. This conversation would be a lot nicer if he was a lot more drunk.

"So they got the cure?" G asked, looking mildly horrified.

"No. There was no cure. Lowell had a brain tumor, so she was kinda confused about stuff. And it turned out her daughter wasn't actually raped, so the whole thing was for nothing. Lovely, right?" Tony flashed a sarcastic grin.

G swore under his breath. "But if there was no cure, then how did you survive?"

"Gibbs ordered me not to die, and he stayed with me for the rest of the day, until he got kicked out. Also, oxygen masks help."

"Damn," G muttered, definitely looking horrified now.

"And the icing on the shit cake- Kate got shot in the head right after I went back to work." Tony wearily scrubbed a hand over his face. "Can we talk about something else now, please?"

G opened his mouth to respond, but the doorbell rang at the same time. "That'll be the food," he said instead.

Tony put his beer down on the table and stood up to help G with the bags.

G reached for his wallet in his pocket as he opened the door. Instead of a Chinese food delivery, he found himself staring down the barrel of a gun.

**A/N (Benny)- Seems like a great place to stop it! I'm not entirely happy with this chapter, so I might go back and edit a bit later. Please drop a review and tell me what you think. Also, last showing of the musical is tomorrow, so wish Elfy luck! **


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